Belt, chain, and other flexible drive tensioners eliminate slack, noise, slip, and wear in all types of flexible drive systems employing belts, cables, chains, bands, timing belts, o-ring belts and so forth. Conventional implementations of belt tensioners typically rely on pivot arms, structural members, or housings that attach to at least one structural element of a device in which drive pulleys or gears are mounted. While capable of handling high torque transmissions and preload forces, these conventional implementations can be costly because they add complexity to the drive system and require additional space.
Conventional tensioner devices tend to be application-specific and complex. Typically, flexible drive tensioning solutions require the tensioner envelope and mounting provisions to be planned in as a particular design is developed. Smaller drive systems with relatively close spacing between sets of pulleys, gears, or timing pulleys often do not have room for mounting a tensioning system. Additionally, because of design evolution, application changes, or changes in availability of system components, many drive implementations that were originally configured without a tensioning device may later require the addition of a drive tensioner to operate optimally.
Thus, there is a need for a simplified, low cost means of supplying a tensioning function for a broad range of flexible drive systems without requiring substantial additional space or mounting provisions.